Iraq to Complain to UN Over Kurdish Gunmen Crossing From Turkey

May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Iraq plans to ask the UN Security
Council to block Kurdish separatists from withdrawing to its
soil from neighboring Turkey, a move that may inflame tensions
between the two countries over energy resources and Syria.

Fighters from the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, began
crossing into self-governed Kurdish areas in northern Iraq on
May 8 under an agreement with the Turkish government meant to
end three decades of bloodshed.

With the pullout in motion, the Iraqi Cabinet voted today
to ask the Security Council to adopt a “suitable resolution to
prevent any violation of Iraq’s sovereignty,” according to an
e-mailed statement from the government.

The Cabinet also plans to notify Turkey that Iraq objects
to the entry of PKK militants without permission from
authorities in Baghdad, according to the statement.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged safe
exit for about 2,000 militants operating in his country’s
eastern and southern regions. The PKK, which has between 3,000
and 5,000 fighters inside Turkey and in the autonomous Kurdistan
Regional Government in Iraq, rejected his call to lay down their
weapons during the withdrawal.

The dispute over the pullout coincides with mounting
frictions between Iraq and the KRG over disputed land and oil
revenue. The KRG halted crude oil exports through the central
government-operated pipeline in December and plans to build a
separate export pipeline to sell oil and gas to Turkey, without
permission from the Baghdad government.

Frictions between Turkey and the government of Iraqi Prime
Minister Nouri al-Maliki have also emerged over Syria. Iran, an
ally of al-Maliki’s, is the main regional supporter of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey, which is mostly Sunni Muslim,
wants Assad removed from power because of his troops’ military
campaign against Sunni-led rebels in Syria.